Author to Revive Da Vinci Code Hero in New Book

As long promised, The Da Vinci Code author Dan Brown is putting his hero, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon, back to work. Random House will release 5 million copies of Langdon's latest adventure, to be titled The Lost Symbol, on Sept. 15, reports the book-industry trade publication Publishers Weekly.

The plot covers half a day in the life of Langdon. "Weaving five years of research into the story's 12-hour timeframe was an exhilarating challenge," the notoriously reclusive Brown, 44, is quoted as saying in a statement. "Robert Langdon's life clearly moves a lot faster than mine."

May 15 will see the movie premiere of the Da Vinci prequel, Angels and Demons, based on Brown's 2000 novel of the same name. Like the 2006 Da Vinci Code movie, which was based on Brown's best-selling 2003 novel, this new film is directed by Ron Howard and stars Tom Hanks.

And fans, fear not: Variety reports that Columbia Pictures, the studio behind the first two screen adaptations of Brown's novels, is also gearing up to produce The Lost Symbol.